In announcing the awards, Furniture/Today's Ray Allegrezza said, "I often hear complaints that the furniture industry is not able to attract that bright young people. When I look at these articulate and creative young retailers, it is abundantly clear that we can."

The awards were presented to the retailers by Leggett and Platt's segment vice president Mark Quinn, who also played a key role in the panel.

After the young retailers helped identify challenges and opportunities presented by the industry, Quinn solicited input from the 470 attendees in the audience to determine actionable strategies the industry could adopt to address some of those challenges and opportunities.

For detailed coverage of the conference, see the Dec. 16th issue of Furniture/Today.